Horrified by log/slash mess

Our family has been going to the Tolaga Bay Motorcamp for our Christmas holidays for the past 48 years. Tolaga Bay is so beautiful and natural. So, imagine our disappointment and horror at what greeted us this year — logs/slash all over the beach.

Who is responsible for this devastation? I don’t think there is any question the owners of the pine forests are, but they should have been made to comply with consents to clean the slash. Why was this not done?!

We encountered a lot of tourists who travelled up the Coast, some of them couldn’t believe a situation like that could be allowed to happen.

Joyce Melia, Auckland

Our family has been going to the Tolaga Bay Motorcamp for our Christmas holidays for the past 48 years. Tolaga Bay is so beautiful and natural. So, imagine our disappointment and horror at what greeted us this year — logs/slash all over the beach.

Who is responsible for this devastation? I don’t think there is any question the owners of the pine forests are, but they should have been made to comply with consents to clean the slash. Why was this not done?!

We encountered a lot of tourists who travelled up the Coast, some of them couldn’t believe a situation like that could be allowed to happen.

A Daily Reader - 2 months ago
I agree. I was recently talking to an older lady who lives up there and has done her whole life. She told me that after the last big flood she went for a walk to have a look at the mess around her property. The slash had killed thousands of eels; she said they were lying tangled amongst the debris. Piles of them. This lady was sad and said nothing publicly; she has no social media or internet. She said that there will now be a gap in the eel generations as there were lots of dead smaller ones. This will leave a big gap at breeding age.I told her that this sort of thing needs to be highlighted, and if she sees it again to take photos. It's not only the mess that most of us see and get angry with, it's the hidden destruction of everything in its path. Our wildlife struggles enough as it is without mass carnage like that adding nails to the coffin. Shameful.

Jason M.W. Allen - 2 months ago
A daily readerIf it wasn't for forestry the river the eels were in would be a thick sludge of silt. Yes it happens, but the country being in trees is better than the head waters of the Uawa being in grass.